JHANG, Sept 30 Muhammad Arif Khan Rajbana Sial, a veteran politician and a close associate of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, died here on Wednesday night. He was 97.

He was buried in his ancestral graveyard in Badh Rajbna village near Shorkot on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Rajbna had started his political carrier along with Col Syed Abid Husain as a worker of the Muslim League during the independence movement.

He was elected to the All-India Constituent Assembly in 1946 on a Muslim League ticket.

After the partition, he was elected member of national and provincial assemblies several times.

He was last elected MNA in 1985 from Shorkot in the partyless elections as a nominee of the Shah Jewna Group, headed by Syeda Abida Husain.

He played a pivotal role in the creation of an independent Parliamentary Group in the national assembly and the subsequent election of Syed Fakhr Imam as National Assembly speaker, defeating Khwaja Muhammad Safdar, who was the nominee of Gen Ziaul Haq.